The Man Who Wasn’t There: Wendell Corey, Actor

In September and early October, the PFA had a program featuring Wendell Corey films.  Wendell Corey is not an actor whose name is instantly recognizable but I remember him from some great films.  My favorite Wendell Corey film is Hell's Half Acre which played at the 2009 Noir City.  That film was on the PFA program as well as a few other Corey films I have seen and enjoyed before:  Harriet Craig, The Rainmaker and Sorry, Wrong Number.

I saw two films in the series.  I regret missing Robert Aldrich's The Big Knife (1956).

My Man and I starring Shelley Winters & Ricardo Montalbán; with Wendell Corey & Claire Trevor; directed by William Wellman; (1952)
The Killer Is Loose starring Wendell Corey, Joseph Cotten & Rhonda Fleming; directed by Budd Boetticher; (1956)

In My Man and I, Ricardo Montalbán plays Chu Chu Ramirez, a hard-working Mexican immigrant in the Central Valley.  I grew up in Texas, along the Mexican border, and I never heard of guy named Chu Chu (pronounced choo-choo).  I have met men named Chuy (pronounced chewy) and of course, there is a famous Mexican golfer named Chi Chi Rodriguez, and legendary revolutionary Che Guevera but never a Chu much less Chu Chu.

Chu Chu Ramirez is a role which must have tested Montalbán's patience.  Chu Chu works is a migrant farm worker but during the off season, he looks for work.  Chu Chu thinks the United States is the greatest place on earth.  How a Mexican farm worker in 1952 California can remain an optimist is beyond me.  Fortunately for us (unfortunately for Chu Chu), he will be severely disabused of his ideals before the film is finished.

Chu Chu finds a job clearing a plot of land belonging to ne'er-do-well farmer Ansel Ames (Wendell Corey).  Shiftless, lazy, dishonest and frequently drunk, Ames is trouble from the start.  His sexually frustrated wife (Claire Trevor in a memorable performance) sees Chu Chu without his shirt on and makes advances on him.  Ever the gentlemen, Chu Chu politely declines her amorous attention.

Ames pays Chu Chu with an overdrawn check.  Despite a court order to pay, Ames continually stalls Chu Chu on his back wages.  When Ames accidentally shoots himself, he conspires with his wife to frame Chu Chu who is eventually convicted of attempted murder and sent to prison.  His Mexican friends (including Jack Elam!) camp out on the road outside Ames house and guilt trip him into admitting his false testimony.  Chu Chu's conviction is vacated and he emerges from prison even more resolute in his belief in truth, justice and the American way.

Shelley Winters as Chu Chu's suicidal, alcoholic love interest.  In addition to trying to better himself, make some money, fend off passes from married women, defend himself against false felony accusations, Chu Chu still has time to rescue boozy bargirls!

The plot is damn silly.  It was probably ridiculous in 1952 but certainly in 2013, My Man and I is like watching theater of the absurd.  Chu Chu is not just the ideal Mexican immigrant but the ideal man who could teach Jesus Christ a thing or two.  Somehow, despite the ridiculousness of the story, Montalbán keeps the film watchable.  He is like the sun with all these terribly flawed people orbiting around him.  Corey & Trevor stand out as the dysfunctional Ames; Winters not so much in role which seems superfluous.  Robert Burton, as a sympathetic sheriff, has a strong performance.

Corey is the eponymous criminal in The Killer Is Loose.  Corey is Leon "Foggy" Poole, the inside man on a bank robbery.  After he is discovered, the police led by Det. Sam Wagner (Joseph Cotten) violate one of the cardinal rules of gun safety.  They fire their weapons through a door without knowing who is on the other side.  They assume Foggy is alone in his apartment but in fact, Mrs. Poole is there and is struck and killed by the police gunfire.  It's telling how easily and nonchalantly the police shift the blame to Foggy.  He should have surrendered when he had the chance.  Neither Wagner or the other officer involved in the shooting (Alan Hale Jr.) seem to shook up over the woman's death.  If they are not too shook up, Foggy definitely is.  Promising to kill Wagner wife (Rhonda Fleming) to avenge his wife's death, Foggy is led out of the courtroom.

Playing the model prisoner, Foggy bides his time until his opportunity arises.  Killing a guard, he escapes a work farm and heads back to LA to kill Fleming.

Corey is front and center in The Killer Is Loose as in the killer has a screw loose.  With coke bottle eyeglasses and a flat monotone speech delivery, Corey is plenty creepy as the killer.  Seemingly bullied while in the Army, he exhibits many of the characteristics we presently associate with mass murderers.

My Man and I and The Killer Is Loose were above average B films.  I enjoyed both of them.

The Night of the Hunter

Way back in July I saw The Night of the Hunter at the Castro.

The Night of the Hunter starring Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters & Lillian Gish; directed by Charles Laughton; (1955)

The Night of the Hunter was actor Charles Laughton's only directorial effort.  This highly regarded film has been on my "To Do" list for many years.  The highlight of the film is Robert Mitchum's performance as the maniacal preacher.  Mitchum is the Reverend Harry Powell, a hellraiser in Depression Era West Virginia.  With "LOVE" and "HATE" tattooed on his right and left hands (didn't he have that in Cape Fear too?), the preacher is always ready with a parable or a knife, whichever better suits his purposes.

When Peter Graves becomes his cellmate, Powell comes up with a plan to get the money Graves stole.   Graves won't be needing it since his character is sentenced to the gallows.  When Powell gets out, he visits Graves' widow Willa (Shelley Winters) and quickly insinuates himself into her graces.  After their marriage, Powell discovers that Willa's children, John & Pearl, know the location of the stolen money.

With Willa of little remaining use, Powell ends the marriage with a knife across her throat.  John & Pearl escape with the money in a boat and lazily float down the river.  They find shelter with Rachel Cooper (Lillian Gish), an old spinster with a tough exterior but kind heart.  Cooper runs a home for abandoned children.  When Powell comes looking for John & Pearl, Cooper defends her brood with a shotgun blast that sends Powell howling into the night.  Eventually arrested by the police, Powell escapes conviction but not the lynch mob.

There is a lot going on in The Night of the Hunter.  It's hinted that Willa is a loose woman.  I suppose she had to do what she had to do to feed her kids after becoming the widow of a killer.  The preacher doesn't like loose women and again, it is hinted that Willa & Powell never consummate their marriage.  Very strange behavior for a man just out of prison.  Powell is definitely repressing some powerful emotions whereas Willa meekly accepts what comes her way including a switchblade across her carotid artery.  Presumably, she is self-loathing for her wanton ways and the shame of her murderer/robber husband.  Sex continues to play a role in the film as Powell seduces a teenage girl (Gloria Castilo) in the care of Miss Cooper in order to get information from her.  Miss Cooper appears to have never been married and by extension never had sex which makes her the perfect foil for the abstinent preacher.

It's the lynch mob at the end that kicks the film into a frenzy.  I wasn't expecting that and the fear on the face of Cooper makes clear the fury she and Powell has unleashed.

The film isn't quite as powerful as it must have been in 1955 but Mitchum's performance is still plenty creepy.  I couldn't help but think there were some "coded" messages in the film which I couldn't decipher.  "Code" as in Hays Code.  Mitchum's & Gish's performances have been praised over the years but I thought Shelley Winters delivered the strongest performance in a character who is not as resolute as Powell & Cooper.

My mind has turned to mush from work and posting on this blog for the past 13 consecutive days.  I've cleared out most of my backlog of films but am having a difficult time articulating my thoughts.  I need to take a few days off from blogging.  This weekend will give me quite a few options - Pier Paolo Pasolini films at the Castro and Roxie or William Friedkin at the PFA.  I haven't decided which films I will see but know that I won't be posting for awhile.